Category GT3 sports cars Inaugural season 1997 | Country France Official website Official website | |
Drivers' champion Sébastien Dumez
Raymond Narac
Olivier Pernaut | ||
The FFSA GT Championship (Championnat de France FFSA GT) was a French Grand Touring-style sports car racing series that began in 1997 and took part in the GT Tour Format.
Contents
It is controlled by the Fédération Française du Sport Automobile (FFSA) and organized by racing company Oreca. Since the demise of the French Supertouring Championship after the 2005 season, the French GT has become France's major circuit racing championship.
History
Founded by Patrick Peter in 1997 as an offshoot of the international BPR Global GT Series, this national version featured a wide variety of Grand Touring-style cars in multiple classes competing at the same time on mostly French courses. In 1998 saw the SRO Group took over the series as the classes were reorganized to reflect the changes made in the new FIA GT Championship, continuing in a similar formula today. In 2011, the series was handed over from SRO to Oreca, a French racing team, constructor, and organiser of the Sportscar Winter Series and the former Formula Le Mans Cup.
The main class has used GTS car regulations from 1997 to 2004, GT1 from 2005 to 2009, and FIA GT3 from 2010 to 2016. The championship featured classes for both professionals and amateurs. GT3 rules included extensive performance balancing and handicap weights to make cars artificially more equal.
In 2016, grids depleted and Oreca cancelled the championship was cancelled. For the 2017 season, the SRO Group became again the promoter and the GT4 regulations were adopted.